Veritasium is an educational science channel on YouTube created by Derek Muller, that has over 134 uploads and 500,000 subscribers as of May 28, 2013. The videos range in style from interviews with experts such as Physics Nobel Laureate, 2011, Brian Schmidt,^[1] to science experiments, dramatizations, songs, and interviews with the public to uncover misconceptions about science; a hallmark of the channel.

Videos[link]

Veritasium videos have received critical acclaim. At Science Online 2012, “Mission Possible: Graphene” won the Cyberscreen Science Film Festival^[2] and was therefore featured on Scientific American as the video of the week.^[3]

A video debunking the common misconception that the moon is closer than it is was picked up by CBS News.^[4]

The most successful Veritasium videos are about the physics of a falling slinky, both videos on this topic having received over a million views. The videos explain the following: when a slinky is held dangling vertically and then released, it can be observed in slow motion that the bottom end does not begin to move until the entire slinky has collapsed, making it look as if the slinky was defeating gravity (i.e. floating). This counterintuitive phenomenon inspired a wealth of media coverage including The Toronto Star,^[5] NPR,^[6] and spawned a segment on the BBC show QI.^[7] Derek also created a segment for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on the topic for the show Catalyst (TV program).^[8]

Name[link]

The channel name "Veritasium" is a combination of the latin word for truth, ‘Veritas’, and the ending common to many elements ‘ium’. This creates "Veritasium", an element of truth. A play on the popular phrase and a reference to scientific elements. The atomic number of the element is ‘i’, the Imaginary unit since the element does not exist. Its mass number is 42.0, a reference to the ultimate question of life the universe and everything from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

See also[link]

• C.G.P. Grey
• Crash Course (YouTube)
• MinutePhysics
• Vi Hart
• Vsauce

References[link]

External links[link]

• {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}